It turns out October was too soon to reactivate Rainbow for Ubisoft, after the mega-publisher confirmed plans today to delay the tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege until December 1, 2015 across all regions and platforms.
Citing player feedback in the wake of Gamescom and other internal tests, developer Ubisoft Montreal released a comprehensive blog post about the decision to postpone the title, and how it wasn’t a move the team took lightly.
“Whether it’s been through playtests in our studios, the closed alpha, or recent hands-on demos at events like E3 or Gamescom, player feedback has been essential to the development of Rainbow Six Siege,” the studio said. “Getting the game in people’s hands and listening to what they have to say helps us understand how we can improve their experience, and we’d like to thank everyone who’s taken part in the process so far.”
While budding fans were no doubt eager to get their hands on Rainbow Six Siege – and save a few hostages in the process – the fact that the publisher has taken feedback on board underlines the importance of stress testing and quality assurance prior to release, particularly when it comes to online-centric games in the vein of Siege. Now, the creative team will focus on incremental tweaks and balancing in order to bring the game up to a consumer-ready standard.
“This wasn’t an easy decision, but based on the feedback we’ve received, and based on our own internal tests, we felt there are adjustments and improvements we can make, including improving the co-op experience across all game modes, weapon and gadget balancing, as well as menu and interface navigation,” Ubisoft said. “We’re taking a little more time to make these changes, and we think it’s the right call.”
Following today’s revision, Ubisoft Montreal will bring Rainbow Six Siege to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on December 1.